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USA TODAY's guide to the new cruise ships of 2013

For some cruise fans, there's nothing like a new ship, and this year there will be several notable new arrivals from which to choose. Norwegian Cruise Line in April will debut the first of its much-awaited new

USA TODAY's guide to the new cruise ships of 2013

Scheduled to debut in June 2013, the 3,600-passenger Royal Princess is nearing completion at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. Here, USA TODAY cruise editor Gene Sloan takes readers inside the still-under-construction vessel to see how its top decks and interior spaces are taking shape. (Photo: Gene Sloan, USA TODAY)

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Carnival and Royal Caribbean may be the world's largest cruise lines, but this year it'll be rivals Norwegian and Princess that steal the spotlight in the industry. Both of the companies are rolling out major new ships.

Norwegian in April will debut the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Breakaway, the first of its much-awaited Breakaway class of vessels. Princess in June will follow with the equally anticipated Royal Princess, also the first of a new class. Both of the vessels will represent a new high-water mark for the lines in terms of on-board amenities and services.

Also unveiling a major new ship this year is German luxury line Hapag-Lloyd, which is targeting the English-speaking market in a new way with the soon-to-debut Europa 2, its first fully bilingual vessel.

Upscale French line Ponant Cruises, meanwhile, is adding another expedition-style ship to sail to the Arctic and other exotic locales. And fast-growing Italian line MSC Cruises is unveiling its 10th new vessel in 10 years. Both lines cater to an international clientele, including Americans, with announcements in English as well as other languages.

In all, that adds up to five major new oceangoing cruise ships from lines that market to North Americans in 2013.

Major lines that won't have a new ship in 2013 include Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Celebrity. But for three of those lines, at least, it's only a temporary lull. Holland America and Carnival both recently announced plans for new ships to debut in late 2015 and 2016, respectively, and Royal Caribbean has three ships on order for delivery in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Read more about plans for new Carnival, Holland America ships.

With the peak period for bookings — aka Wave Season — now underway, USA TODAY offers the following guide to 2013's major new vessels (click on the ship names below to go to a full page on each of the newcomers that offers details on onboard features, home ports, itineraries and pricing).

In addition to the oceangoing vessels listed below, there are more than a dozen new river ships under development for 2013 from river lines such as Viking River Cruises, AmaWaterways and Avalon Waterways. We'll have a full report on them soon.